Security consultant and former Kenya Airforce officer Mwenda Mbijiwe has been missing for over one month now with the government unable to trace nor account for his last moments.
Mbijiwe was reported missing by his sister, Tamara Mbijiwe after having traveled from Nairobi to Meru on Saturday, June 12, 2021.
According to Tamara, Mbijiwe went missing just after handling a training session for a Nairobi-based church on basic security skills.
Days later, detectives revealed that a car resembling the one that was hired by the security expert had been found abandoned in Kigumo, Murang’a county just a few kilometers from his home.
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Before the issue of the car believed to have been used by Mbijiwe was solved by investigators, it was also discovered that Mbijiwe’s driver, Mathew Muhatia Namasaka had also disappeared without a trace.
Namasaka’s wife told detectives that her husband went missing the same day that Mbijiwe was reported missing. He apparently received a call and stated that he would be back later only for the family never to trace him again.
“They were close friends who enjoyed cracking jokes when together,” said Cyntia Salome, Namasaka’s wife.
The car that Namasaka was driving was also found to have been abandoned along the busy Mai Mahiu road and was later towed to Tigoni Police station.
This raised suspicion with the family calling on the government to intensify the search for their kin and bring him home.
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For instance, Mbijiwe’s mother, Jane Gatwiri who is a former KDF officer called on the relevant state organs to help trace her son adding that she was having sleepless nights not knowing whether the son is alive or dead.
Mbijiwe’s case is not new to the media as there exist many other cases of Kenyans who have disappeared without a trace with the government doing nothing to account for their disappearances.
It has kind of, become a pattern where towards any General elections, cases of persons missing without a trace and extra-judicial killings surge.
Mbijiwe is a very well-known and connected man, especially within the political corridors. In 2017, he made attempts to run for Meru Governorship under the ODM ticket but later backed out and pledged support to Peter Munya.
He has ideally been caught up in scandals and accused in fraudulent deals as in 2019, he was arraigned in court for allegedly fraudulently acquiring Sh150,000 from a man with the pretense that he would aid secure a job for the man’s sister at the United Nations (UN).
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Similar cases of people disappearing without a trace have been witnessed in the country with the state machinery which has the power to trace every Kenyan unable to piece together the events that led to them missing.
A good example of this is that of businessman Dafton Mwatiki who went missing, his car, a Land Rover Discovery found dumped in Juja, Kiambu County.
In yet another similar account of events, Somali-American businessman Bashir Mohamud Mohammed was reported missing by the family only for his car, a Range Rover to be found burnt and abandoned in a thicket.
Bashir’s body was later discovered at Kerugoya Level 5 Hospital morgue with the government pathologist revealing that he was tortured and strangled to death.
There were speculations that Bashir had brushed shoulders with the powerful and the mighty in the Kenyan political corridors hence his disappearance but the case has since gone cold with authorities remaining mum on the matter.
Questions now lingering are, “Who is responsible for Mbijiwe’s disappearance? Is Mbijiwe still alive, will he ever be found or it will be among the many cases that have gone cold leaving family members in anguish?”
